Decius wrote:
] Musicians, and also engineers and other creators, ultimately
] need to become more like consultants. People who can bargain
] as well as create.

hear hear. but it doesn't need to be all of them, necessarily, just enough to be a resource for the rest. a resource which has the artistic concerns up on the scale.

] Who is altruistic? The only reason we care is because we see this
] problem getting to the point where it is screwing up our culture.
] (Man, I am really getting jaded lately...)

i think a lot of artists are altruistic, implicitly. they care more about the art itself than about any particular profit model or distribution agreement (which is, as you say, why they get fucked as it stands). People who care about the art as art generally want to get it seen by people because they think it has signifigance, hopefully enough to attach some monetary value to it so they can keep creating. If you take these people, the ones of them who've been at it a while and know the ropes, from a business perspective, who still care about art but create less of it these days, you've got the makings of a group like i mentioned. willing to do the work because it benefits Art (capital 'A' intended) by fairly compensating creators as well as establishing methods of distribution and marketing which fit into the revised business environment.

] Another thing that concerns me, though, is that artists
] usually don't respect the public domain. They believe in
] perpetual copyright too... Even if you get the artists free
] from the pimps, you've got another fight to get the people
] free from the artists...

perhaps. i'm not sure i'd agree with 'usually', or that most artists feel this way. i could be wrong. as i said above, i think most artists are in it for the art (the "right reason" as i consider it), and are less concerned with endless guaranteed profit. some, of course, want perpetual copyright so that no one can ever "damage" or "misuse" their precious art. Which is just as stupid an argument. But, i don't necessarily feel like it needs to be all or nothing. If you're the kind of artist who doesn't want to agree to let this group of people manage your rights for you, or if you think you deserve more money than their model provides, fine, have at it, do something else. Choice is always good right? At least, choice is something really nonexistent at the moment as far as the music world is concerned. It's slowly changing tho.

RE: [Politech] Reply to EFF over its position on RIAA, file swapping [ip]